Weekly Global News Wrap Up: Banking crisis unlikely 'in our lifetime'; Banks to cut $1.2b in research spending

And Euro zone lenders dampen financial sector recovery.

From CNBC: Fed Chair Janet Yellen said Tuesday that banks are "very much stronger" and another financial crisis is unlikely anytime soon. Speaking during an exchange in London with British Academy President Lord Nicholas Stern, the central bank chief said the Fed has learned lessons from the financial crisis and has brought stability to the banking system. Banks last week passed the first round of the Fed's stress tests to see how they would perform under adverse conditions like a 10 percent unemployment rate and turbulence in commercial real estate and corporate debt.

From Bloomberg: Europe’s impending ban on free research will cost hundreds of analysts their jobs with banks set to cut about $1.2 billion of investment on the area, according to a report by McKinsey & Co. The consultancy estimates the $4 billion that the top-10 sell-side banks currently spend on research annually is likely to fall by 30 percent as clients become pickier about what they pay for, McKinsey Partner Roger Rudisuli said in an interview. Investment banks’ cash equity research headcount has fallen 12 percent to 3,900 since 2011 compared with as much as 40 percent in sales and trading, leaving the area facing “big cuts” to catch up, he said.

From Reuters: Although a better economy is helping global banks to turn the corner a decade after the financial crisis began, euro zone lenders remain a dampener on the sector's recovery, the Bank for International Settlements said on Sunday. "The financial sector faces an improving but still challenging environment," the BIS, a forum for central bankers, said in its annual report. "The near term economic outlook has brightened substantially and financial headwinds have turned into tailwinds in many advanced economies."

From Bloomberg: Frankfurt is emerging as the biggest winner from last year’s Brexit vote, with many of the world’s biggest banks choosing to base their new European Union headquarters in the German city. Standard Chartered Plc, Nomura Holdings Inc. and Daiwa Securities Group Inc. have picked Germany’s financial capital for their EU base to ensure continued access to the single market. Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley are weighing a similar decision, said people familiar with the matter, asking not to be named because the plans aren’t public.